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When he was giving a valedictorian speech at West Aurora High School in Aurora, Ill., Billy Taylor spoke about role models and how, unfortunately, people in his community looked up to athletes and musicians rather than positive figures. He spoke of his parents as a major influence on his life, but also mentioned a doctor who gave up a chance to make money in the private practice and opened a free clinic in inner-city Chicago.
Sixteen years later, he would get a chance to be the kind of positive role model he spoke of in 1991 as he steps into the head coaching role at Ball State University.
FROM AURORA TO BETHLEHEM Taylor's life in basketball began at a young age. By the time he was one year old he had his first basketball. By the time he was six it was clear to his father, Dennis Taylor, that he had a natural talent for the game. Even as a child, Billy was mature.
"He was a lot like he is right now," Dennis said. "My mom had always told me that parenting was going to be a challenge. But - he was our first - and because he was so easy to parent, I told my mom 'this is going to be easy.'"
He continued to grow as an athlete and a student in high school and was recruited by Digger Phelps to play at Notre Dame.
Phelps retired following the 1991 season and Billy played for four seasons under Phelps' replacement John MacLeod. He started 79 of the 112 games he played in for the Irish. Following graduation he took an accounting job in Chicago.
Three years later, as MacLeod was putting together his coaching staff for the 1998-99 season at Notre Dame, he placed a phone call to Billy, asking him if he wanted a position on his staff.
"It took him about 30 seconds to decide," Dennis said.
After one season at Notre Dame, associate head coach Fran McCaffery left the Irish to take the head coaching position at UNC-Greenboro. McCaffrey offered Billy the position of his head assistant coach, and they quickly took a team that had a 7-20 record in 1999 to an automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Two years later he moved on to Bethlehem, Penn. to take over the head coaching position at Lehigh University, a position McCaffrey had previously held. He spearheaded an 11-game turn around his first season and in his second season won the Patriot League championship and earned Lehigh it's first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. He also won Patriot League Coach of the Year award in his first two seasons.
"He's gotten the team on the bus before," Tom Collins, director of Intercollegiate Athletics, said. "He's called time-outs before. He's got a very calming demeanor on the sidelines."
Billy has a strong academic record to complement his on the court success. Billy graduated from Notre Dame in 1995 and earned his CPA in 1998 while working for Arthur Andersen in Chicago, a top accounting firm. Twenty of the 21 players graduated from Lehigh and the one remaining one has six credit hours remaining before graduating.
"It was very important to us that Billy had a reputation for not only building teams, but graduating players," President Jo Ann Gora said. "He himself has a strong academic history. He understands the value of a strong education and that's what he needs to be successful here."
A TEACHER, A COACH One of the first times Billy's mother, LaVerne, saw him as a head coach she had a realization. He pulled out his stool, sat down around the players and instructed his players on the game.
"He was a teacher," the former schoolteacher said. "He wasn't screaming, he was just teaching. That was Billy."
Collins said Billy's style on the sidelines, while not electric, is a good fit for Ball State.
"He's going to be calm on the sidelines so they can be calm on the sidelines," Collins said. "He's not an excitable coach, and I personally like that type of style, and I think our fans will embrace that type of style in what he does."
Although Billy doesn't yell at the players himself he acknowledges some fans will carry that role throughout the season. The Nest, which has seen more than 2000 students at times, was one of the first things Billy learned about upon taking the position.
"I'm excited just at the pictures of the last years of the Nest and the turnout and hearing the type of stories about the home court advantage they provide," he said. "I look forward to experiencing that first hand."
Billy's first statement to those gathered to see him introduced, including senior guard Peyton Stovall, was about his coaching style, his relaxed nature and his defensive mind-set.
"I always joke with our guys and I believe it to be true, and I'll say it and Peyton can hear it now for the first time - he'll hear it again: We're going to hold our opponents to somewhere around 60 points." Billy said. "If we choose to score 80, that's great. If we choose to score 61, that's great."
Billy lists ensuring that he doesn't need to yell at the players on the sidelines as one of his goals in being a coach.
"My style is more of that of a teaching and instructive methodology," Billy said. "I'm not one about storming up and down the sidelines and yelling and screaming at officials. My job is to coach our team, to prepare our team, to coach our team and communicate with our players."
Billy, who helped turn schools around from dismal seasons at Lehigh and UNC-Greensboro, will look to do something similar at Ball State. Although he wants to be successful immediately, he has bigger goals for Ball State.
"We're not trying to build a successful team, we're looking to build a successful program, and a successful program happens over a period of five to seven to ten years," Billy said. "The type of success that I'm looking for with in this program is going to take a little more time to build. I think we can have success as a program and build things and make people proud of the product we put on the floor."
A FAMILY MAN, A COMMUNITY MAN A mere 30 hours after the press conference introducing him as the head coach at Ball State, Billy was at Damon's Bar and Grill for a meet and greet allowing members of the Ball State and Muncie communities to meet him for the first time. Billy's Midwestern attitude and relaxed style made an immediate impact on fans.
"He was a good player and is a good person," Gene McCreery, a 1934 Ball State graduate who attended the meet and greet, said. "He's good for Muncie."
Billy, who never seemed to tire or force a smile when greeting the parade of more than 200 people showed up to shake the hand, seemed to carry the same relaxed demeanor he holds on the court and in press conferences with the public. He sincerely smiled and talk briefly to the fans who showed up to welcome him, He even shared a laugh or two with women's basketball coach Tracy Roller, who also showed up to greet him.
"We felt like it was the right thing to do," Collins said. "And they came out in numbers. I'm very happy. It's overwhelming."
It was the first in a series of events where the athletic department will introduce the new coach to the community. Throughout the week he met with local social organizations and he will participate in events to introduce him to students shortly after classes begin.
"This is a good thing we're doing here," Matt Wolfert, associate athletics director for community relations, said.
Billy and his family, who all said they were 'overwhelmed' by the support from the community, seemed closer to old friends hosting a dinner party than the family of a coach at a public relations event. And, for his part, Billy wants to be a part of the Muncie community.
"It's just that connection with alumni, fans, students," he said. "I think that's all very important for what my job is from day one."
At the introduction event were Billy's wife, Avlon, his five-year-old daughter Gavielle and his two-year-old son Savion. Avlon stood by her husband and shook nearly as many hands as the coach himself. Gavielle, when she wasn't standing by her mother, was interacting with the children her age while Savion sat at a table and played with his Lightning McQueen toy car.
Also in attendance were Billy's parents, who stood behind their son and watched as a line going from the banquet room and leading to the front door came to meet their son.
"They greeted Billy so warmly, so lovingly," LaVerne said. "We are so impressed with the reception here."
The move from Bethlehem, which is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia, to Muncie will bring Billy, Avlon, Gavielle and Savion much closer to Billy's parents, who still live in Aurora. What was once a two-hour plane ride to visit their grandchildren is now a four-hour car ride.
"It's a godsend," LaVerne said. "Absolutely a godsend."
Billy, who previously applied for the Northern Illinois job earlier this year, admitted the location played into his decision to take the job.
"We wanted to move our family, our children, back closer to my parents," he said. "That was a big part of the decision. I want my kinds to grow up really knowing my parents well."
Billy added that he has a grandfather in Merrillville and a grandmother in Evanston, Ill.
"Ball State University got more than just Billy Taylor the coach; they got Billy Taylor and the family," he said. "We feel we are a part of this Muncie community, this Ball State community, and it's very important to us. It's ingrained in how we're raising our family - trying to teach and promote family values."
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